Bridge



(No Model.)

W. E. WOODBBIDGE.

WIRE WOUND GUN.

No. 271,561. Patented Jan.80, 1883.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLlAM E. VOODBRIDGE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

WIRE-WOUND GUN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 271,561, dated January 30, 1883.

Application May 19, 1832. 7 (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. WooD- BRIDGE, a citizen of the United States, now residing in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, have invented a new and-useful Improvement in the Construction of Gannon, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the means of providing longitudinal and transverse. strength in built-up guns; and it consists in the treatment of the materials employed and inthe arrangement of the parts, as hereinafter described.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1 represents a section through the axis of the gun; Fig. 2, a transverse section on the line a b, Fig. 1; and Fig.3, atransverse section on the line 0 d.

The same parts in each figure are designated by the same letters.

A represents the tube immediatelysurronnding the bore. It may preferably be made of steel.

Immediately surrounding the tube, and extending from the breech to a point forward of the trunnions, is a cylinder composed of longitudinal bars or staves B B, which constitute the chief resistance to the longitudinal strains to which the gun is subjected in firing. They are connected with the interior tube by means of interlocking screw-threads, as at e, or equivalent circular grooves or projections.

Upon the exterior of the cylinder of bars or staves two rings are screwed and shrunkenone of them, (J, at the base of the gun, of the full diameter of the breech, and the other, D, near the forward end of the bars and forward of the position of the trunnion s. Between these two rings the cylinder ofsta-ves is tightly wound with wire W in successive layers, the depth of the covering at the forward portion of the space between the rings being graduated to suit the strain to be encountered in that part of the gun. The diameter of the ring D is made to conform to that of the cylindric mass of wire which it bounds. By means of this ring and the sleeve E the force of the recoil is transmitted to the trunnions F F, which are in one piece with the trunnion-band G. When the winding has been carried to the extent already mentioned, the sleeve and trunnion-band are placed in the position shown in Fig. 1, the screw-threads of the band engaging with the exterior threads of the sleeve and the interior nion-band and the base-ring O is covered to the depth desired for affording the strength required in that part of the gun. The wires may be conveniently attached to the cylinder of staves at the beginning of the winding by bending their ends and inserting them in holes bored in the staves for that purpose.

The other ends of the wires may be fastened,

when the winding is completed, by drawing them into rectangular notches in the base-ring and then wedging them or closing the metal of the ring against them by calking or hammering.

The portion of the tube forward of the ring D is supported by rings forced or shrunken on, (shown in section at H, I, and Kin Fig. 1.)

The breech in the instance shown in the drawings is closed by a screw-plug, L; but the method of closure-forms no part of thisinvention.

In the construction of guns required to have great resistance, not only the forms and dimensions of their parts are to be considered, but also the kind and molecular condition of the material employed. Steel of a rather low degree of carbonization possesses qualities which render it highly suitable for gun construction; but, as is well known, its properties of strength and extensibility depend much upon the treatment to which it is subjected. Forging, or an equivalent movement of its particles at a red heat, is essential for all the ordinary uses in which it is employed; but steel, in common with most metals, gains its condition of highest resistance by being drawn into wire. Next to this, the process of cold-ham mering in swages, which is applicable to much larger pieces, produces high tensile strength and resistance to compressing force,while th e same result, in a good degree, may be produced by cold-rolling or cold-hammering (without the use of swages) in such masses as are capable of being uniformly treated throughout. Such l masses are, however, small relatively to the dimensions of modern guns.

For reasons derived from the facts above stated, steel wire is selected as the material.

which furnishes tangential resistance to that portion of the gun subjected to the highest strains, while the stares are, in preference, constituted of cold-swaged metal. They acquire by such treatment a resistance to the compressing force of the tightly-wound wire which wouldotherwise be sulficient to deform or crush the interior tube: Thorough annealing after hot forging is an important prelimithe combination of these bands with the tube,.

. I reserve as the subject of a separate application. 7

It is preferred that the wire employed should be either square or flat with a rectangular cross-section. It is also desirable'that it should be tinned or coated with a metal of low fusibility, capable of being used as a solder. This serves as a preparation for soldering, or, if the soldering be omitted, as a protection against oxidizinginfluences,and also togreatlyincrease the resistance -to the slipping of wire upon wire. This prevention of the slipping of the wires one upon another is due to the close adhesion of their soft-metal coating effected under the heavy pressure induced by winding with tension. It is much preferred, however,

' that the wires should be unitedwith a solder which may ordinarily be preferred, I proceed to mention some modifications which may in some cases be more desirable.

' I propose to treat either of the parts constituting the gun by either of the methods of cold-working which have been mentioned and which maybe applicable thereto; and also by the method of cold-Working by hydraulic or other pressure substituted for blows.

I propose, when the interior tube of the gun may. thereby be given all the longitudinal strength required for its particular use, to replace the staves by solid metal forming part of the tube, and to wind the wire directly upon it, connecting the trunnions with it in the way already indicated.

I also propose to use in gun construction either of the cold-wrought parts already mentioned in the absence of the others,when they may be advantageously employed.

1 do not claim broadly the construction of guns of tubes or staves re-enforced by means of bands forced or' shrunken upon them nor do I herein claim the use of wire in gun construction as already secured to me by Letters Patent dated January 1, 1867; but

What I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in the structure ofagun, of a central tube with an overlying cylinder of bars or staves, thesame being overwound with successive layers of wire in greater or less part of its length, the tube being also supported by the application of suitably-formed bands, the whole being connected and attached to the trunnions, substantially as herein set forth.

,2. The combination of a cylinder of staves or equivalent with the interior tube of a gun,

attached and held together, substantially as herein set 'forth, for the purpose of giving the tube longitudinal support.

3. The combination, in a gun, of a ring forward of the trunnions and secured to the body of the gun,the sleeve supporting the trunnions and secured to said ring, and the wire-wound.

portion between the sleeve and the bodyv of the gun, whereby the force of the recoil is communicated over the wire-bound portion to the trunnions or bearings of the carriage, substantially as described.

4:. 111a gun, the combination of the cylinder of cold-Wrought bars or staves and the interior tube, secured together by suitable means, substantially as and for the purposedeseribed. 5. In a gun, the combination of the interior tube and the tinned or coated wire, the said wire being wound over the tube in successive layers either directly or mediately, substantially as described.

W. E WOODBRlDGE. Witnesses:

N. GALLAN,

O. V. N OALLAN. 

